Safety guard for machines



' March 3, 193.1.

M. J. M INTYRE SAFETY GUARD 7 FOR MACHINES Filed Aug. 4. 1928 3Sheets-Sheet l INvENToR;

WH'NESSES,

March 3, 1931. M. J. M INTYRE SAFETY GUARD FOR MACHINES 3 Sheets-Sheet 2Filed Aug. 4. 1928 H Y m :L s Sv E h f N T W March 3, 1931. M J,MclNTYRE 1,794,469

, SAFETY GUARD FOR MACHINES Filed Aii 192a s Sheets-Sheet 3 will of theoperator.

- 25 tween the dies as the guard then sweeps is when said part of saidmeans is unlocked to Patented Mar. 3, 1931 R Q D TES ENT OFFICE 1MICHAEL J; MCINTYRE, or EDEN CENTER, NEW YORK I vApplication filedAugust 4, 1928. Serial No. 297,420.

This invention relates to improvements in is adjustable to accommodatediilerent sizes safety guards for machines, and particuand makes ofmachines and different worlc larly to machines which are fed by hand anding conditions. I caused to be operated intermittently at the Third, toprovide a guard for machines of the class described having a movableportion 55 Safety guards as made at present are to sweep an operatorshand from the danger principally of two-types, those of astationary zoneand stationary portions to prevent said and permanent character whichsurround the operators hand reaching said danger zone stationary andmovable die so that an operaoutside of the sweep of said movableportion.

tors hand or fingers cannot be inserted be- Fourth, to provide a guardfor machines 60 tween'them but allow ofthe insertion of a of the classdescribed having a movable porsheet "of metal through or beneath saidguard, 'tion to sweep an operato'rs handfrom the and those'of a'movablecharacter which sweep danger Zone and geared to the movable dietheoperatofls: hand away from the danger head to give an increasedmovement and zone when the movable die starts. to approach speed oversaid die head movement and '65 the stationary die; I 1 speed. i

The stationary type of guard gives com- Fifth, to provide a guard formachinesof plete protection to the operator so he has no the classdescribed having a movable portion chance to get injured byinadvertently into sweep an operators hand ifrom thedanger sertinganyportion of his hand'between the zone and means to prevent said operators70 dies when they are coming together. The hand reaching said dangerzone outside of common movable type of guard gives prothe sweep ofsaidmovable portion, one part tection when the operator places his hand inof aid mean bei l k d til th v bl front of it to insert a piece ofmaterial bedi starts to approach the stationary die hand away as soon astheinovable die starts ll w val of op rators hand from the to approachthe stationary die. But it. does d n 7 not give complete protection asthe operator With these objects in view, the invention 0311 lllSQlt hishand back Of the ghlald 0i' onsists ertain features of novglty in thearound it outside of its sweep-1 construction, combination andarrangement 80 v. Operators are instructed in the proper way of t b hi hth id bj t d to operate a machine so the guard will protain oth r objctswhi h ill h i aft rtect t m and P astlck to P w y appear areattained, the invention being more from the d163, but whenythey areparticularly pointed out in the claims. I mgljlece workthey t endlessand try to, My guard devicethen combines stationary 85 {Wold the e Whlchthls type they can and movable guard means consisting of a i lie iq e estationary fixed portion, a swinging movable 4 and forining presses orother machines which ppsltlon reclprocatmg combinethe advantages of thestationary and movabletypes by enclosing the danger zone I ed gsacceelpaeymg and form andproviding suitable opening for; the mg P p 9thls p r operator, said openingprotected by amovablc lg 1 1S a f melevwonrof F p portion to sweep his hand away when the of a Punch p qlpp wi my lmprqved' 95 movable die starts to approach the stationgthePunch Pregs b shown ly ary die. n v i I V I, in conventional formwith the movable d e Second, to providea guard for machines of head inits upper position and the guard 1n the class described which is adaptedto be itsopen position. e c mounted thereon as'an attachment-andwhich 2is a side elevation of a portion of 10a ventlon.

' of said guide in 2.

a punch press showing one side elevation of my improved guard.

Fig. 3 is a top view or plan of my improved guardattached to the punchpress, a portion of said press being in section on line 33 of Fig. 1 anda portion of the stationary guard in section on line 3 of Fig. 1. Thefront of said guard is in its closed position.

Fig. 4 is a front elevation of my improved guard mounted and showing aportion of a punch press with its movable die head and die in its lowerposition and the front of said guard in its correspondingclosedposition.

Fig. is a partial section on line 5-5 of Fig. 2 to show a modificationof locking means for the swing guard. Figs. 1 and 2 show the press andguard in the so-called open position ready to receive a piece ofmaterial and Figs. 3 and 4 show the press and guard in its so-calledclosed position when the dies are together after having acted upon apiece of material.

v Referring to the drawings, 1 indicates a punch pressgenerally inconventional form and having a bed 2 on which a stationary or lower die3 is mounted in the usual manner. 4 is an upper die which acts inconjunction with lower die 3 to punch or form a piece of material. Upperdie 4 is mounted in the reciprocating die head 5 which latter acts tomove the former toward and away from stationary die 3. 6 is a connectingrod to actuate the die head 5 from the crankshaft 7.

The punch press has the usual trip (not shown) to be pressed by theoperators foot when a piece of material is in place on the lower die.The upper die then starting from its upper position shown in Fig. 1descends ta its dotted position a distance represented by 51, which isthesame lower position shown in Fig. 4, and'returns to the upperposition when it again comes to rest. This operation is repeated foreach piece of material inserted between the dies but as the punch pressis a conventional type further description'of its operating mechanism isdeemed unnecessary as it forms no part of my in- 9 isa guide havingslots 10 for fastening to the front edge of bed 2 and having a groove 11shaped like an inverted T (Fig.2) to form a way in which the foot'12of'the movable guard 8 is reciprocated. .13 is a stripfastened to the'top of guide 9'-to'form one portion of the way and as a convenient meansof easily finishing said way 11'. A portion of the guide 9 projects overand rests on the top of bed'2 shown in'the end view at one endof, and asa portion of guide 9 is a vertical lug 14 which forms a supportv for theshaft 1'5'. A

' lever 16 isformed integral-with the shaft on one of its ends andintegral with a pin 17 on its other end.

The reciprocating guard 8 has a boss 18 with three holes 19 tooperatively connect it with the lever 16 by means of the link 20. Thelink 20 has a boss 21 on one of its ends with a suitable hole in whichthe pin 17 partly rotates and a pin 22 011 its other end which partlyrotates in one of the holes 19. The said holes 19 are for the purpose ofadjusting the travel of the guard 8 and for different sized machines. Atthe rear of lug 14 is a pinion 23 fastened on the end of shaft 15 bymeans of a screw 24 which also acts as a key to drive said shaft 15.

Fastened to the front of the die head 5 is a horizontal arm 25 on oneend of which is fastened a rack 26 by means of a bolt 27 passing througha slot 28 in rack 26. Slot 28 is for adjusting the position of said rack26 on said arm 25 and 23 is wider than 26 for adjustment and wear.

. F astened to the left side of the machine 1 (Fig. '1) is a verticalbracket 29 slotted for vertical adjustment, and having a foot 30 with avertical pivot pin 31 on which is mounted a guard 32 adapted to swing onsaid pin 31. An adjustable stop screw 33 in the swing guard 32 abuttingagainst vertical bracket 29 determines the closed position of said swingguard 32 and a spring 34 yieldingly holds said swing guard in its closedposition. Y

35 is a rod adjustably fastened on the end of arm 25 and passing througha rectangular opening 36 in the swing guard 32. Slightly above saidopening 36 is a block 37 on the outside of swing guard 32 for limitingthe upward adjustment of a pin 38 in the rod 35. 38 isa pin verticallyadjustable through said rod 35 and adapted to project above the upperedge of said opening 36 a distance 47 to lock said swing guard in itsclosed position. 011 the inside of swing guard 32 is a block 39 havingan inclined lower surface as shown for the purpose of raising said swingguard 32 to allow pin 38 to pass through opening 36 in case the die head5 and with it the arm 25 returns to its upper position before said guard32 has swung closed.

On the right side of machine 1 (Fig. 1) and opposite to the swing guard32 is a stationary guard 40 having a vertical portion fastened to thelug 14 by screws 41 and a horizontal portion fastened to the frame ofthe machine 1 by screws 42. In Fig. 3 the upper portion of guard 40 iscut away on the section line 3 of Fig. 4 but its shape is shown indotted lines. The stationary guard 40 is to prevent an operator fromreaching around to the right and back of the reciprocating guard 8 orover the top of it into the danger zone. The swing guard 32 is toprevent an operator from reaching around to the left outside of thetravel of the reciprocating front guard. and into the danger zone. Onmachines where there is not sufficient space between the guard 8 and thefront of the machine 1 for an operators hand, the horizontal part ofguard 40 can be omitted. 1

The front vertical edge of guard 8 has an enlarged circular section 43to accommodate a split piece of rubber hose 44 to act as a bumper tocontact with the operators hand in sweeping it aside.

Fig. 1 shows the positions of the dies and guards when ready to receivea piece of material to be operated upon, The operator then places apiece of material on the lower die 3 andwithdraws his hand and trips themachine. As the die head 5 descends bringing the dies 4 and. 8 togetherit carries downward the arm 25 and its rack 26, rotating the pinion 23and shaft 15 to reciprocate the guard 8 to the position 8 (Fig. l) bymeans of the lever 16 and link 20. In Fig. 1 when the guard 8 is at theforward end of its travel as indicated by 8 the lever 16 is in position16" and link 20 in position 20, the pin 17 having described an are 46.In Fig. 4 this forwardposition of guard 8 is shown with the die 4 in itslower position. l'Vhen die head 5 returns from position Fig. 4 toposition F ig.. 1 the direction of rotation of pinion 23 is reversed asrack 26 travels upward andthe guard 8 is returned to'position of Fig.1.As

soon as die head 5 has descended a distance 47 (which is the distancethe top of pin '38 is adjusted above the 'top'edge ofrect-angularopening 36) the swing guard 32 is free to be s wung open. In case theoperators hand is inithe danger zoneit is swept aside to the left by theclosing of the reciprocating guard 8, and if his hand is swept farenough to the left to contactwith the swing guard 32, said swing guard32 opens to a position represented by 32 (Fig; 3) and closed again underthe action of spring 34. Referring to Fig. 1, 51 is the distancetraveled by the die 4 and at the same time the bumper 44 moves to 44 adistance of 52, so that an operators hand is moved out of the dangerzone at a greater speed than the movement of die 4. A longer movement 52in proportion to. movement 51 and so a greater pro portionate speed canbe accomplished by gearing up the connecting parts between the die 4 andthe guard 8. 7

When operating the press 1 steadily and as rapidly as consistent withinserting pieces be tween the dies 3 and '4 the safety feature of thisguard is to compel the operator to use only the opening into the dangerzone which is protected by the reciprocating guard 8 and so prevent theoperator from reaching around said guard 8 as a quick means ofdisplacing a piece of scrap or for any other reason. 'The operator getsin the habit of inserting pieces ofmaterial and tripping the machineregularly and in trying to keep up this regularity he is liable to getinjured if he can reach around a safety guard which sweeps across thefront.

The operator can raise swing guard 32 to clear pin 38 and swing it out,if necessary, but in so doing he has stopped operations and is not soliable to be injured by inadvertently tripping the machine.

Adiiferent form. of lock is shown in Fig. 5 for said swing guard 32consisting of a concealed spring catch 48 as a part of the rod 35 inplace of the pin 38 when the swing guard 32jcan only be opened byloosening the set screw 49 which projects into the groove 50 on pivotpin 31 and then raising said guard 32 to clear said catch 48.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is:

1. The combination with a machine having a stationary and a movable die,an actuated member to carry said movable die, a crankshaft and aconnecting rod to operate said actuated member of a guard to sweep infront of the danger zone between said dies, means to operatively connectsaid actuated member and said front guard and means to guard theopenings to the danger zonenotswept by said front guard, said latterguard means i-nclud ing a movable guard and a lock to hold said movableguard locked in its closed position only during therest period of saidactuated member.

2. The combination with a machine, including a frame, an actuatedmember, a crank lI-i) 3. The combination 'with' a machine, in-

eluding a frame, an actuated member and movable means on said-machine toactuate said member, of aguide' mounted on the front of said machine forhorizontal ad justment, a guard mounted in said guide and adapted to bereciprocated in frontfof said actuated meinbenmeans to operativelyconnect said guard and'said' movable means'on said machine toreciprocate said guard, a

fixed guard at one side of said actuated member, a movable guard at theother side of said actuated member and movable only during thereciprocation of said front guard and a bracket mounted on said machinefor vertical adjustment to support said swing guard.

4. The combination with a machine, including a frame, "an actuatedmember and movable means on said machine to actuate said member, of'aguard to reciprocate in front of said actuated member, means tooperatively connect said guard and said movable means on said machine toreciprocate said guard, a swing guard at one side of said actuatedmember, a spring to move and yieldingly hold said swing guard in aclosed position and means to lock said swing guard in its closedposition when said. actuated member is in its upper position and adaptedto unlock said swing guard when said actuated member has started todescend.

5. The combination with a machine, including a. frame, an actuatedmemberand movable means on said machine to actuate said member, of a guidemounted on said machine, a guard mounted and adapted to be positivelyreciprocated a fixed distance in i said guide, a boss on said guard withholes for adjustment of the travel of said guard and means tooperatively connect said actuated member and said guard, said meansincluding respectively a rack and a meshing pinion, a lever fastened tosaid piniomand a link connected between said lever and said guard, saidrack and pinion having different widths of face for adustment and wear.

46'. The combination with a. machine, including a frame, an actuatedmember and means to actuate said member, of guard means to effectivelyenclose the danger zone to said actuated member, said guard meansincluding a fixed guard atone side of said danger zone, a fixed guardabove said danger zone, a movable guard adapted to pass in front of saiddanger zone and a side movable guard oppositesaid fixed side guard,means to operatively connect said movable front guard and said actuatedmember andlocking means connected to. said actuated member to lock saidside movable guard during the rest period of said actuated member andrelease said side movable guard by the movement of said actuated member.

7. The combination with a machine, including a frame, an actuatedmember, means on said machine to actuate said member, of a guard adaptedto be reciprocated in front of said actuated member, means tooperatively connect said reciprocating guard and said actuated member, aswing guard at one side of said actuated member and an arm connected tosaid actuated member having means to lock said swing guard in its closedposition and unlock said swing guard by the movement of said actuatedmember.

8. The combination with a machine, including a frame, an actuated memberand means to actuate. said member, of guard means. to prevent theinsertion of an operators hand to the danger zone to said actuatedmember except for a single front opening during the rest period of saidactuated member, said guard means including a movable guard to sweep infront of and close, said single opening to said danger zone and saidguard means including guards between the sides of said movable guard andsaidinachine/land between the top of said movable guard and saidmachine, and locking means for one of said sideguards adapted to releasesaid side guard during the movement of said actuated member.

9. The combination with a machine, including a frame, an actuated memberand means to actuate said member, of a guide mounted on said machine forhorizontal adjustment, a guard mounted in said guide, means tooperatively connect said guard and said actuated member to reciprocatesaid guard in said guide, said operative means adapted for adjustmentbetweensaid guard and said member, means on said guard to connect saidoperative means for adjustment of the travel of said guard, a fixedguard at one sideof said actuated member, a swing guard at the otherside of said actuated memher, a lock to fasten said swing guard in itsclosed position only during the rest period of said actuated member anda bracket having a vertical adjustment to support said swing guard. r I

10. The combination with a machine, including a frame, an actuatedmember, a die carried by said member and means to actuate said member,of guards at both sides and above to enclose said die and leave only asingle opening for the operator, a movable guard adapted to sweep infront of said open ing during the movement of said die, geared means tooperatively connect said movable guard and said actuated member, andlocking means to fasten one of said side guards during the rest periodof said actuated member and release it during the movement of saidactuated member to allow for the removal of an operators hand.

.In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my MICHAEL J. MGINTYRE.

